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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

2006 Archive

2005 Archive

No ‘save the DAF’ campaign

15 February 2008 - When Italian cities introduced anti-pollution measures, a broad coalition of supporters campaigned for legislation to have their beloved Fiat 500 exempted. Now that Amsterdam plans to ban cars built before 1992, a similar initiative to save the DAF seems unlikely.

According to la Stampa, environmentalists claimed that one Fiat 500 was as polluting as two hundred modern cars. Nevertheless, in 2004, a coalition uniting post-Fascists with former Communists introduced legislation exempting cars more than 25 years old and under 1,000 cc, effectively saving the 600,000 Fiat 500s from being banned from the cities.

The Amsterdam municipality is expected to announce plans next week to ban cars built before 1992 from the area within the ring road, but Toon van Diepen of the Historic Automobile Association (HAV) is not planning any actions. The DAF Club and Classic DAF did not respond to requests to comment.

Van Diepen does find that cars built before 1978 - recognisable by their dark blue instead of yellow license plates - should be exempted. His organisation has 50 members in Amsterdam who should be able to make trips to de Veluwe or het Gooi. Also, members living outside Amsterdam should be able to participate in activities in the capital.

He does not think that the classic cars will pose a real problem for the city’s air quality, since they are used very sparingly. “The effect of eighty classic cars touring through the city on a Sunday morning is negligible in comparison with traffic during the rest of the week”, he argues.

Image: TOCMP

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